1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic device for analysing and cloning cellular structures, as well as for bacterial analysis, namely an apparatus integrating the phases of maintenance and experimentation of substances, particularly pharmacological, of the optical analysis of the density and the form of cells, as well as associations thereof, and of the pricking out of the adherent cells with a view to cloning same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
At the present time, cell culture on a support medium is carried out in standardized containers such as Petri boxes, multihole boxes, or flasks. The morphological analysis of living cells, generally carried out with a phase contrast reversed microscope, aims at counting the cells, detecting the presence of colonies, studying the spontaneous or provoked differenciation of the cells, or else following the evolution of their form and of their movement by time-lapse cinematography.
These observations are of very great interest in studying the growth and normal or experimental differenciation of cells, in particular for following up the effects of drugs, hormones, toxic products. The use of the present containers involves carrying out phases forming a sequence of dissociated operations, with passage through various devices, such as wet CO.sub.2 incubators for storage, lamina flow tanks for renewing the media or for cell handling, reversed microscope coupled or not to an image forming device (video camera or photographic camera).
Several microscope constructors propose thermostat controlled enclosures comprising a reversed microscope.
There exist moreover motor driven plates and image analysis devices.
In 1980 the inventor showed (MIKROSCOPIE) the use of video image analysis, associated with a thermostat controlled enclosure and with motor driven plates, for following up cell kinetics.
Such large volume devices, associating conventional components, may comprise CO.sub.2 content regulation, but it is not advisable to create water saturation which would inevitably cause zones of condensation and would be a source of contamination, but more especially of rapid deterioration of the optical systems and of the micro-mechanics. Thus, the rapid evaporation which results therefrom limits the duration of analysis sequences to a few hours and to 48 hours at most.
In addition, the complex forms of the devices included in the enclosure are not appropriate to maintaining sterility.
At the present time, these enclosures which include a microscope allow the evolution of cultures to be followed maintained in the wells of a box, but the analysis of several boxes in a limited time, and all the more so long term analysis, i.e. including operations for changing nutritive medium, are not possible in an automated way.
The inventor has further proposed an original solution for the long term maintenance and analysis of culture boxes of conventional shapes (cf. French patent application No. 84 08839).
When the maintenance, sampling and cell analysis operations are not longterm operations, do not use a very large number of samples and do not present great risks of contamination for man, it is advantageous to design an apparatus strictly adapted and optimized in all its components.